American-Korean Friendship and Information Center

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The American-Korean Friendship and Information Center AKFIC was an early 1970s front for the Communist Party USA> It's first public appearance occurred in a large ad in the New York Times of February 25, 1971 entitled "Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos ... AND KOREA AGAIN? According to an article in Human Events weekly, August 2, 1975, by Frank McNamara, "Will North Korea's 5th Column Defeat the U.S.?", the Center's "two basic beliefs -- that "Americans must be armed with the facts about Korea" ... and that the Korean people "must have the right to determine their own future without outside interference."

McNamara, a longtime U.S. government intelligence officer and analyst, described this organization in some detail as to its Communist Party USA origins and specifically some of its top officials who will be described below using his descriptions.

A much earlier report on the AKFIC appeared in Washington Report, American Security Council, April 12, 1971, WT71-7, entitled "Advertisers and Agitators", describing the organization, its origins, goals, propaganda lines and officials/supporters in good detail. Some of this report's identifications of these individuals will also appear below.

Officials

Officials of the American-Korean Friendship and Information Center were:

Full Page ad

On February 25,1971, the American-Korean Friendship and Information Center sponsored a full page newspaper advertisement "VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, Laos - AND KOREA AGAIN?" in the New York Times. The Advertisement stated,

"The only to end the war in Indo-China is to withdraw all U.S. Military Personnel and weaponry from Indo-China."
"The only way to prevent a new war in Korea is to withdraw all U.S. Military Personnel and equipment from Korea."

Initiating sponsors of the advertisement included, according to McNamara, included "five clergymen, several attorneys, doctors and artists, over a dozen author, writers, publishers and editors and, leading them all (as usual) over 20 professors. A truly impressive array!"

McNamara described some of them with their real identities as CPUSA members, supporters or an other marxist party.

  • Joseph Brandt, holding the key post of AKFIC Executive Director, is a long-time party functionary who has served on its National Committee and had just recently been released as Managing Editor of the CP's newspaper, the Daily World DW."
  • George B. Murphy, Jr., the "journalist" occupant of the other AKFIC pivot post, that of Secretary, is also an old-time party member and functionary." [KW: Murphy was a columnist for the black "Afro-American News" paper published out of Batimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Some in the Murphy family had ties to the CPUSA)
  • Dr. H. Aptheker, of course, is Herbert Aptheker, father of Bettina Aptheker, who has long enjoyed acclaim as one of the party's top theoreticians while editing its magazines and teaching at and running its schools.
  • Andy Stapp is sort of the oddball in the setup - because he's a leader of a radical Trotskyist Communist group, the Workers World Party , which has no love for Moscow or the CP. His American Servicemen's Union ASU, however, did much to create dissension and rebellion in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and has members among our troops in Korea. He can therefore be very useful to the Kremlin if things heat up "over there."

Ball was an official of perhaps the oldest CPUSA front in existence at that time, the Methodist Federation for Social Action MFSA, as well as supporting other CPUSA fronts and causes.

Ruth Gage Colby, Vice-Chairwomen, is a "U.N. correspondent and U.N. Representative of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom WILPF", a heavily CPUSA infiltrated organization up to its top leadership. She was also a key member of the CPUSA-dominated "Mobes" during the Vietnam War until she split with their successor Peoples' Coalition for Peace and Justice PCPJ, a faction controlled wholly by the CPUSA. She joined the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party faction known as the National Peace Action Coalition .

Ruth C. France, "writer, editor and former member, U.N. Secretariat.

  • "Woodward and Walker, the Black Muslim editors, had obviously been brought aboard to help develop black support. In addition, the party likes the Black Muslim anti-draft position, its strict discipline and its Fruit of Islam FOI paramilitary force."

John Woodford, an editor of "Muhammad Speaks", the black Muslim newspaper.

Joe Walker, an editor of "Muhammad Speaks", the black Muslim newspaper

Other sponsors of the ad are listed below as they appeared in the ad. Any additional information about them will be added by KW.

Initiating sponsors

In 1971, the following were listed as Initiating Sponsors:

AKFIC Publications

According to Frank McNamara in his "Human Events" newspaper article of Aug. 2, 1975, the AKFIC "launched a new magazine, Korea Focus, and sent complimentary copies to all senators and congressmen."

Writers/commentators for several issues of Korea Focus included:

  • August-September 1974, Volume III, No. 1:

Editorial Board:

John Hitz

Contributors/Commentators

  • November 1974, Volume III, No. 2

Editorial Board changes: Gerald Cook not listed

Contributors:

  • March-April 1975, Volume IV, No. 1

Contributors:

  • David Buehrens
  • John Hitz - "graduated Yale with a BA in anthropology and from Fordham University with an MA. He received a Fulbright scholarship for study in Brazil. At present he teaches math and Spanish in the New York City educational system, is currently Chairman of the [{West Side Marxist Forum Center]]; and a member of the Editorial Board of Korean Focus."
  • Robert Ante
  • Angelo D'Angelo
  • Jonathan Goldstein
  • William Pomeroy

References

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